OC-01 (Varenicline Solution) Nasal Spray Demonstrates Consistency of Effect Regardless of Age, Race, Ethnicity, and Artificial Tear Use

• Published in: Clinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.) N.Z.), 2022-01, Vol.16, p.3405-3413
• Main Authors: Epitropoulos, Alice T, Daya, Sheraz M, Matossian, Cynthia, Kabat, Alan G, Blemker, Gretchen, Striffler, Kristen, Hendrix, Laura, Macsai, Marian, Gibson, Andrea
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: African Americans; Age; bioactivation; Clinical trials; Cornea; Demographics; dry eye disease; Ethnicity; Evaluation; Eye care products; Eye diseases; Females; Health aspects; Hispanic Americans; Males; Native North Americans; nicotinic acetylcholine receptor; Ophthalmic drugs; Original Research; Patients; Respiratory agents; tear production; varenicline nasal spray
• ISSN: 1177-5483; 1177-5467; 1177-5483
• DOI: 10.2147/OPTH.S383091

Purpose: To evaluate OC-01 [varenicline solution nasal spray (VNS)] tear production and symptom outcomes in patients with dry eye disease by age, gender, race, ethnicity, and artificial tear use status. Patients and Methods: Adults [greater than or equal to] 22 years of age diagnosed with dry eye disease, with Ocular Surface Disease Index score [greater than or equal to] 23, corneal fluorescein staining score [greater than or equal to] 2 in [greater than or equal to] 1 region or [greater than or equal to] 4 for all regions, and baseline Schirmer Test Score (STS) [less than or equal to] 10 mm, with no restrictions on eye dryness score (EDS). Efficacy was assessed using integrated data from ONSET-1 and ONSET-2 [vehicle control (VC), n=294; OC-01 VNS 0.03 mg, n=308]. Subgroups included age ([less than or equal to] 55, 56-65, >65 years), gender (male, female), race (White, Black or African American), ethnicity (Hispanic or Latino, Not Hispanic or Latino), and artificial tear use (yes, no). Analysis of covariance models, with the covariates treatment, study site, and baseline severity measures, were used to calculate treatment-VC differences. Consistency of effect among subgroups was evaluated by conducting interaction tests. Results: Consistency of treatment effect across subgroups was observed for all endpoints, with P value for all treatment-subgroup interaction terms >0.05. For % of patients with [greater than or equal to] 10mm improvement in STS and least squares (LS) mean change from baseline in STS and EDS, there was improvement in tear production across demographic group categories. Artificial tear use did not change STS or EDS outcomes with 0C-01 VNS. Conclusion: 0C-01 VNS improved tear production and patient-reported symptom outcomes across a broad range of patients by age, gender, race, and ethnicity, and regardless of artificial tear use status at baseline. 0C-01 VNS demonstrated a consistent benefit across an extensive range of patients with dry eye disease. Keywords: bioactivation, dry eye disease, nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, tear production, varenicline nasal spray